Another Year of Christmas Roses
by HecateA
Summary: This isn't the most conventional Christmas tradition, but Harry is pleased with the way his family has come together. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #10, Magical Literature Task #11, Write about someone who is satisfied

**Warnings: **References to canon character death

* * *

**Another Year of Christmas Roses **

_Welcome to my Christmas song_

_I'd like to thank you for the year_

_So I'm sending you this Christmas card_

_To say it's nice to have you here_

_I'd like to sing about all the things_

_Your eyes and mind can see_

_So hop aboard the turntable_

_Oh step into Christmas with me_

-Step Into Christmas, Elton John

"That's enough," Harry said, scooping up James and plopping him back down further than an arm's reach from his little brother.

"I'm playing with him," Jamie tried to explain.

"You're teasing him, and I also need you to put your boots on, please," Harry said. "I know you can do it on your own, you did it at school, remember?"

Jamie nodded and went to collect his boots and plop down on the floor to pull them on. Al was looking up at him with wide-eyes, his thumb in his mouth. Harry gently replaced the finger with a stuffed dragon that Uncle Charlie had given them ages ago, and scooped Albus up.

"Your turn," Harry said, sitting his youngest son down on the bench by the door. He started wrestling shoes on the little boy while Albus kicked and squirmed, making his job increasingly difficult.

"Al, I need you to stop please," Harry repeated, making sure to meet his toddler's eyes.

Al continued to chew on his toy and Harry heard Ginny come down the stairs. Lily was nestled in her arms, looking absolutely adorable in a little red beanie and a set of red overalls, with holly stitched on the front pocket.

"Hi," Harry said, a smile inevitably creeping to his lips. "Someone looks adorable on her first Christmas Eve…"

Ginny smiled and kissed the baby's head. Meanwhile, Albus kicked his shoes off.

"Switch?" Ginny said, eyeing the little boots on the ground.

Harry nodded and gave Jamie a high-five for getting halfway dressed before taking the baby and attempting to wiggle her into her tiny snowsuit. He took a break to help Jamie zip up his coat and tighten up his scarf.

Eventually, all the kids were dressed and Harry had the diaper bag thrown over his shoulder. He'd checked it this morning, and the Christmas presents they'd be lugging to the Burrow later were all accounted for and tucked in the inside pouch they'd hit with an Undetectable Extension Charm two kids into their current arrangement. Lily was wrapped in some extra blankets and nestled against Harry's chest.

"Alright," Ginny said. "Al, Jamie, can you two hold my hands? Harry, you'll take the baby?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'll lock up behind us. See you there."

Ginny nodded.

"Bye daddy," Jamie said. "See you there!"

"Ba-bye." Al said, waving.

Ginny Apparated first, leaving Harry to lock the door and turn off the lights. He kissed Lily Luna's forehead and readjusted the blanket to make sure her cheeks were covered.

"You ready, sweetheart?" Harry asked her. "Are you ready to go for your first visit?"

She was a quiet baby and she still had those bright blue newborn eyes going for her. She looked up at him and Harry took it as a yes, Apparating with Ginny.

* * *

Ginny and the boys were waiting for them by the wrought iron doors when they arrived. Jamie was jumping up and down, leaving his footprints in the snow, and Al was imitating him though both boys were careful not to let go of their mother's hands. She'd trained them well and was indeed very scary.

"Hey," Harry said. The snow was piling on to Godric's Hollow in generous, fluffy snowflakes.

"Dada, I made the biggest footprint in the world," Jamie said, showing him his handiwork.

"You did," Harry said. "Those look like giant footprints. Or snow trolls."

"Snow trolls aren't _real," _Jamie said. Albus babbled something in return and Lily cooed in his arms.

"Are we ready to go in?" Ginny asked them all, though her eyes only met Harry's. He nodded and she squeezed the boys' hands. "No jumping in the cemetery, okay? We'll be quiet for a little bit, and then when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's you'll be able to play some more."

"Okay," Jamie said.

"Okay," Albus said too.

Harry held the cemetery's door open for them as they walked in. It was empty, though many of the graves boasted fresh flowers and offerings at this time of the year. They advanced softly, their pace set by Albus' small and very focused steps. He led the way to the site they were looking for; the wide, granite stone with the familiar names, the familiar dates, and the familiar inscription. _The last enemy to be destroyed is death. _

Albus plopped down in the snow at his parents' feet when they paused before the stone and Jamie wandered closer to it.

"Gentle," Ginny reminded him softly.

Jamie put his two mittened hands to the stone and spent some time pondering the letters before looking back to them.

"That's my name," he told them.

"Yeah, it is," Harry said.

"It's got the same letters like school," Jamie said.

"You're right," Harry said.

"We wanted you to have the same name as Grandpa James," Ginny said.

"We're sharing," Jamie said.

Harry smiled. "You are. You're getting so good with your letters, kiddo. Come here…"

James circled back to him for a high-five.

Harry drew his wand and conjured bright and full poinsettias.

"Come on sweethearts," Ginny said. "Let's go…"

He watched Albus and James and Ginny put the flowers down and fondness for them spread in his chest as the two little boys arranged the flowers all around the stone, on top of it, and in piles with a rhyme or reason of their own. It was a similar chaos to how the Christmas tree had been decorated.

Harry rocked Lily Luna back and forth as he watched his little family. They were actually a rather big family now—a newborn, a toddler, a preschooler, the pair of them… and the cat, of course. How could he forget the cat? Nevermind all the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great uncles, great aunts… Not for the first time, he wondered if Lily and James had been planning to have more children after him. He had an inkling that he hadn't been quite planned; he wouldn't have been equipped to have a baby at the age of 20, much less if that had been in the middle of the war. But he supposed that he'd never know what kind of family they'd dreamed he'd be a part of, since everyone who might know wasn't quite available to ask. Still, he was quite proud of the one he'd found himself in. It made the not knowing softer, not quite as bitter and hurtful as it might have been.

"Sweethearts, how about we give Daddy some time alone here for a few minutes?" Ginny said. "We can go drink some hot chocolate at the Christmas market, okay?"

"Okay," Jamie said quietly.

"Okay," Albus repeated.

"You gotta wave bye, Albus," Jamie told his brother.

"Ba-bye," Albus said, waving goodbye.

Ginny kissed Harry's cheek and whispered "take your time" to him before scooping up Albus in one arm and taking Jamie's hand with the other.

Harry turned back to the stone and took his turn to approach it. He knelt in the snow, holding Lily closer to his chest.

"Merry Christmas," Harry said. "Well, merry Christmas Eve. It's just better to come today—tradition and all, and then the kids get to open their presents tomorrow and see their other grandparents."

Lily had fallen asleep in his arms and he kissed her forehead.

"Lily Luna," he said to nobody in particular, rocking the baby as he did.

Ginny hadn't even been pregnant last Christmas, when they'd last visited. There had been a time after the war when he'd spent a lot of time in Godric's Hollow—too much time. It had caused the most fierce row he and Ginny had ever had about the way the war had changed them—which had led to their current arrangement. They visited Godric's Hollow together, once a year, on Christmas Eve, as a family. That way Harry didn't circle to the graveyard whenever his thoughts circled back to the war and he didn't trigger a series of nightmares about Nagini and Bathilda Bagshot and the night they'd died… It was better this way: coming to Godric's Hollow with his family at his side, a year's worth of good news in his heart, and the soft glow and music of the nearby church framing the occasion.

"We've taken to calling her Lilu. She's so quiet, Ginny and I get scared sometimes—especially compared to her brothers," he said. "But she's really so adorable. I'm going to be so bad at all this when she's older, she's going to have me wrapped around her finger…"

Lily cooed in her sleep and Harry smiled down at her.

"Otherwise, Jamie's enjoying school more than we thought he would. We put him in a Quidditch program this year to blow off some extra energy, and he's really loving it," Harry said. "Takes after his Mum, I guess—she's on maternity leave now, but the Harpies are doing really well. Might make it to finals this year, even with all those changes to their Chaser line-ups. Al's still not talking too much, but we're not worried about him. He's in a massive hide-and-seek phase right now, it's pretty cute to watch the boys take turns hiding stuffed toys. Teddy's always got the best hiding spots, though, drives Jamie mad..."

Harry suspected that if he were to come to Godric's Hollow on his own, if he did swing by and sit by himself for a while and think things through, it wouldn't get to him quite as badly. It wasn't that his losses or his past had changed; it's just that he had the right amount of joy in his life, and maybe even in his arms, to soothe the parts that stung. They'd been made a part of a better, softer, more satisfying story now.

"I'm in love with all of them," Harry said. "We've had a good year. We're going to have another. There's really… there's nothing I can ask for. I was really boring at Christmas, I know. But I've got good kids and a good partner and a good life. So thank you, for that."

He felt Lily shiver in his arms despite the blankets and the warming charm he'd put on them. It was time to go; she'd be nice and warm at the Burrow, where they were due for supper.

Harry conjured up one last bouquet of Christmas roses. He snatched one of the flowers, which he tucked into Lily's blankets, out of the air before laying the rest down at the foot of the gravestone.

"See you next year," he said.

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Winter Bingo

**Individual Challenge(s): **

**Word Count: **

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_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley (Golden Lions)

**List (Prompt): **Winter Medium 2 (Traditions)

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_**Winter Bingo **_

**Space (Prompt): **2B (Snow)


End file.
